Devils-Rangers Postgame Quotes [03.25.10]

Here are some of the postgame quotes after the Devils 4-3 shootout loss to the Rangers Thursday night:

Jamie Langenbrunner:

Talking about the game…

“We caught up to Pittsburgh a little bit; would we have played a better game had we won the shootout? I don’t know, we played a good hockey game and they won the game at the end.”

Are there positives to take out of this game?

“Absolutely, we played pretty well. They scored a lucky power play goal — that bounced off a couple of things and went in the net, and they did a good job of scoring one late. I think we played a good game; we battled hard, we missed some opportunities. It was a must-win for them and they delivered; we had opportunities to bury them and we didn’t deliver.”

Talking about his goal…

“It was a good play by (Andy) Greene hitting Patty and Patty saw me and obviously deflected it over there (to me). We connected with each other a few times for semi-breakaways, breakaways, and finally one went in. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight and if you do that and get those chances, we’re going to score goals.”

Martin Brodeur:Talking about the tying goal…

“I think they sent the puck behind the net and we went chasing after it. The guy made a pretty nice pass — he faked on his forehand and went to his backhand — and (Chris) Drury was all by himself there. He was so close, it’s kind of hard (to stop it), if he hits a hole, it’s going to go in.”

Could you tell on the shootout goal by Erik Christensen that it was a goal?

“I didn’t see it. I heard it hit the post, then the other post and I felt it go on my back; I just tried to make sure I wasn’t going to knock it in. The linesman knew right away it went in.”

Does it sting a little more because it was the Rangers?

“No; it was an emotional game. I thought we played real hard, real well. We did a lot of good things out there, we just didn’t get the job done at the end of the game and that’s the bottom line.”

It seems like when you play these guys; it’s hard to get more than a one-goal lead…

“When there’s a rivalry, emotional-wise, it’s always a roller coaster when you play them. They’re competing to save their lives these guys, so we knew they weren’t going to roll over.”

Zach Parise:

Talking about missing out on jumping ahead of Pittsburgh in points…

“We still have a game in hand, but it would’ve been nice to get that extra point. We played pretty well; I thought we just have to be a little bit better.”

You out-chanced them tonight; does that make it more frustrating?

“I thought Lundqvist made a big difference (for them); we outplayed them, out-chanced them, like you said, a lot of good things came out of it. It was just unfortunate we didn’t win.”

Did you get the shot that you wanted during the shootout?

“Yeah, I got my shot off, he made a nice save. I got the shot I wanted, that’s where I wanted to go.”

Patrik Elias:

What went wrong on that last play where they scored?

“You can analyze it as much as you want; maybe you have to win the face-off right from the get-go. They put it behind the net. Either be aggressive or maybe be a little more patient, because we left a guy right there on the goal line. It just happened; it’s too bad because we had control of that game.”

Talking about his goal early in the third…

“Those guys, Clarkie and Zubie, did a good job getting the puck deep and holding onto it there. We had good changes going on today, Nieds came off and I jumped on as the fresh guy and just went into the slot; it was a nice pass by Clarkie.”

You had a SH breakaway early in the game, were you unable to settle the puck down there?

“Is that what you saw? Well you saw more than me then. No, I just made the right play, the right move that I wanted; he stayed deep and didn’t give me much room there. He played well tonight.”

Henrik Lundqvist:

Talking about his team’s record in overtime/shootout…

“We haven’t had a good record at all in overtime; it’s funny how sometimes we give up a lot of scoring chances in overtime, but we managed to take it to a shootout and it was great to see us score right away. That gives me confidence to be more patient against my shooters.”

What’s going through your mind when Drury scores that goal?

“I didn’t even look; I was talking to Alex (Auld) on the bench (laughs), complaining about not winning and then from nowhere we tied the game — it was a great feeling. To stay alive, we needed this.”

Did you know anything about the shooters in the shootout?

“No, not at all; I just try to approach it the same way no matter who I’m facing. They’re good shooters; I’ve faced them a lot over the years and you have to respect them a lot, but today was my day.”